Watch the video below or click the following link to watch it from CBSNews.com:  Video

I know there are some adults that would rather take from the system rather than work and some of these choices have led them to experience tough times.  However, especially right now, there are many people that may not have planned for their futures or this downturn but are hard-workers who cannot find employment.  Even if the parents are bad with money and don’t work hard, it breaks my heart to see children suffer.  I don’t think any child should be forced to live in a car and have to worry about his/her next meal.  I know that life is not always fair but this still breaks my heart.

I used this clip to discuss money issues with my daughters even though they are pretty young – seven and four.  Sometimes they complain about what they are having for dinner or not having as many toys as their friends do.  I know it is all relative but I pointed out to them the family that just had one orange between the five of them.  I hope this will at least make them think twice before complaining about something they don’t have because it could be a lot worse.

Like I mentioned, I know some people’s actions can lead to dire situations and how we view money and our wants is all relative, but this video really made me stop and think about all I have.  During Christmas time it is so easy to get caught up in the holiday rush and try to go out and buy everything we can to make it the best Christmas ever.  This clip opened my eyes and made me realize what is truly important.  It’s typical that many parents buy their children more expensive presents than I will and others have many more gifts under their Christmas tree than the Kofke family will but I know that I am a very blessed man.  It is so easy to focus on our short-comings and all that we don’t have compared to others; this, clip opened my eyes a little wider and helped me see that I do have all I need.

After viewing this video I would love to hear what you think.  Did it make you change the way you view your situation a little differently or become a little more thankful for versus taking things for granted?

I was recently interviewed on Laura Rowley’s show titled Money and Happiness.  This aired on AOL.com’s Daily Finance. Click here to view the video on Daily Finance.

In this interview I shared some of the tips Tracy and I used to get to the point that we were able to live off my teacher’s salary.  I thought I did a pretty good job and did not think I would offend many people since all I was trying to do was help others.  Well, from some of the comments, you would have thought I was preaching about committing the worst crime imaginable.

Here is a sampling of some of the comments this story received:

I’m sure those people in the apartment with 2 or 3 children were saying, “Boy, I’m glad we don’t have a house with a couple of bathrooms and bedrooms”.   And I bet they never argue over who gets the car. This is disguised Jimmy Carter socialism, aka Give up the American dream, you’ll be happy with less. He’s not happy with less, he just needs a excuse for not succeeding. If his books a big hit, 5 will get you 10 he’ll be moving on up to the big house.

I guess that you just stay on a particular budget. It doesn’t seem like it is a happy or satisfying way to live a life.

Who has a mortgage of only 1000 per month including utilities? Not in Va.! Unless this guy is living in some sort of ghetto, could you live on the money he is talking about. I spend over 1000 a month in food for three people and sometimes more. Where is the car payment, other living expenses, etc. I hope this guy’s car never breaks down. At the income level he is talking about, his car can’t be new. Completely unrealistic! Where is clothes for his kids? 40K a year translates to 3333 per month before taxes. Deduct 25% for adverage taxes and that amount is only 2500 per month. You are not supporting kids, a stay at home mom, having health insurance and going on vacation on 2500 per month!

Wow – huh?  The main reason for this post is to encourage those of you that are making a change to continue in that direction, ignore what others have to say when it’s negative and overcome financial adversity!

My quote on One Money Design is “To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.”   The reason I chose this is because of some of the comments.  Whenever you are doing something positive in your life there will be others that might put you down to make themselves feel better.  It is much easier to criticize others rather than make a change in your own life.

As you make changes in your life to improve your finances, there will probably be people that make fun of you, as Dave Ramsey warns.  In the interview above, the host and I did not say anything offensive and were just trying to help others.  As you can see by the comments, that is not the way some took it.  Don’t give up because of others’ views.  Keep working hard to manage your money wisely and it will make a difference for you in the future!

In 1974, Congress passed the Housing and Community Development Act, which amended the U.S. Housing Act of 1937 to create the Section 8 Program. In the Section 8 Program, tenants pay about 30 percent of their income for rent, while the rest of the rent is paid with federal money. The two main Section 8 programs are tenant-based vouchers and project-based vouchers. In the tenant-based program, eligible families with a certificate or voucher find and lease a unit and pay a reasonable rent, which is based upon a percentage of their income. The local housing authority pays the owner the remaining rent, which is capped by the Fair Market Rent (FMR). The housing authorities determine the reasonable rent and the FMR is determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).  Section 8 is now referred to as Housing Choice Vouchers which currently pays a large portion of the rents and utilities of about 2.1 million households.

The Housing Choice Voucher Program provides “tenant-based” rental assistance, so an assisted tenant can move with assistance from one unit of at least minimum housing quality to another. Section 8 also authorizes a variety of “project-based” rental assistance programs, under which the owner reserves some or all of the units in a building for low-income tenants, in return for a Federal government guarantee to make up the difference between the tenant’s contribution and the rent specified in the owner’s contract with the government.

Now that we have a definition, I wanted to show you a video concerning Section 8.  You can watch the video above this post.  This month, Dallas county was offering a limited number of rental vouchers.  The ensuing scene was not pretty.

Besides the stampede, I think the most troubling part of this clip was towards the end when the reporter asked someone waiting in line if it was it worth it – meaning getting caught up in the stampede.  Her response was, “I am a student working 3 jobs so I definitely need help with my rent so I don’t have to work so hard.”

Yikes – there are so many things wrong with this statement.  She is basically saying that she should be able to take money from those that have more than she does so she does not have to work so hard.  What about the people who pay for this assistance – don’t some of them work hard?  I applaud this young woman for going to college and holding down three jobs but, to me, it is wrong to expect someone to pay for your expenses so you don’t have to work so hard.  Using this thinking, why can’t someone pay for my mortgage so I don’t have to get up most mornings and go to work.  I would have more time to write a book or more blog posts.

Like I mentioned, I applaud this young woman for going to college and working three jobs, but, until we start getting our financial orders straight and not expect and/or depend on someone else taking care of us, I am afraid many will continue to struggle with money.

When do you think it’s okay to apply for Section 8 housing vouchers?

If you’re a Netflix customer you recently heard about the price hike.   An article at USA Today says Netfix did this because they miscalculated how many people want to receive DVDs by mail each month.  People haven’t transitioned over to watching movies online as quickly as anticipated.  Online streaming doesn’t provide new releases like you can get in the mail and perhaps people just aren’t comfortable with online streaming of movies yet.  The article also mentioned Netflix is under enormous pressure to pay content providers bigger checks.  I do understand the basics of business and you have to have enough revenue to meet and hopefully exceed your costs, or it’s time to shut the doors (in this case, shut down the website).

The service offerings have changed along with the pricing.  You can no longer get the 1-2 movie mail and online services bundled together.  The two services have been separated. For our family to get the same service (online and 2 movies by mail) we now would pay close to $20 per month.  While around $4 isn’t that big of deal we simply haven’t used the mail service enough to pay the extra for it.  We may be the atypical customer that was actually making Netflix money by paying for the mail service, but rarely using it.  We always stream movies to our laptops and over the TV.  So, Netflix will be happy with our move as we’re now pumping more money into their online service and not using the more expensive service.

For some, the price change may be too much to live with Netflix and may prompt the research of a new movie service. If that’s you, I noticed Blockbuster is offering special by mail pricing for past Netflix customers.  :)  Also USA Today mentioned some other services that may be good to consider:  Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, Apple iTunes and HBO Go.  Just Google each to learn more about their pricing.  For now, we’re going to continue using Netflix, but I’m definitely open to other services that are affordable, accessible and easy to use.

What do you think about the Netflix price increase?  Are you sticking around, or have you made other plans?

This speaker’s name is Kyle Maynard.  Kyle was born in 1986 with a disability referred to as congenital amputation.  This condition can be as minor (I don’t know if this is the best term to use here) as missing a finger or a toe or as severe as affecting all four limbs.  Kyle’s condition was extremely severe and his arms stop around his elbows and legs end slightly above the knees.

Despite being born with this condition, Kyle’s parents encouraged him to live life to the fullest.  Kyle started playing football in 6^th grade and then, to keep in shape during the off-season, wrestled.  Kyle stopped playing football after 8^th grade to concentrate solely on wrestling.

Kyle’s wrestling career got off to a rough start.  In fact, he lost thirty-five matches in a row. Finally, halfway through his second season, Kyle won his first match which set him on the path to success.  By 8th grade, he won the youth regionals and was undefeated going into the state tournament. In 9th grade, he was the starting junior varsity wrestler at 95 pounds for his high school.  In 10th grade, he won the King of the Hill Tournament – a tournament recognized as the Georgia’s junior varsity state tournament. By 11th grade, he split time as the varsity 103 pounder and had 9 varsity wins with 2 pins and only 1 loss.  During his senior season, he won a total of 36 varsity matches. Eight of his wins were by pin and several other wins were over state champions and state placers. During the end of this season, Kyle had his nose broken in a match.  Despite this, Kyle placed in the top 12 at the Senior Nationals and was only one match away from becoming a high school All-American.

After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Georgia (on a side note, UGA is located about 20 minutes from my house so we are in Bulldog territory) and wrestled as the 125 pound starter on their club team as a freshman in 2005.  Kyle’s story started to gain a lot of media attention (he was featured in USA Today, on Larry King Live and Oprah) and, with this attention, he became a sought after motivational speaker.  Due to this attention, he decided to take a break from his schooling to focus on his speaking engagements.

If that doesn’t give you tears then I don’t know what will.  I know some of you may be thinking, “What does this have to do with money?”  I feel that this is such an uplifting story.  We are constantly bombarded by negative stories on a frequent basis.  There are so many people that feel they cannot get control of their lives and give many reasons why they cannot achieve certain things.  I feel Kyle’s story shows that one can do things that almost seem impossible with hard work and persistence.

That is all great and I love the motivation that goes into these goals, but why are they given up on so easily? Perhaps life gets in the way (we become too busy), or maybe some people find out their goals require too much work and sacrifice?

As you may know, I’m a fan of the Crown Money Map which is a Crown’s roadmap to true financial freedom. It’s simple and easy to understand and serves as a logical guide built upon a biblical foundation. It helps you get on the right path and most importantly, learn good financial stewardship.

But this journey, as you know, isn’t easy. It definitely requires sacrifice and it’s easy for people to sometimes want to give up. But, as you’ll learn in this video from Igniter Media, Achieve Goals with One Small Step, people can get overwhelmed by the big end goal of true financial freedom. Such a goal really involves too much to comprehend sometimes, doesn’t it? Rather, I like the message in this video of taking one small step. Make each day count. Do something that helps you move forward. Before you know it, you’ll be well on your way towards achieving your goals.

What do you think about this video and the message of achieving goals with one small step?

And here area few personal finance blog carnivals One Money Design was featured in:

Canadian Finance Carnival, Total Money Blog Carnival, Best of Money Blog Carnival, Family Finance Carnival, Carnival of Personal Finance, Carnival of Personal Finance, Carnival of Personal Finance, Carnival of Personal Finance, Yakezie, Debt Reduction, Debt Reduction, Debt Reduction, Save or Make Extra Money

I found this cool overview of Mint personal finance software while browsing YouTube.

Are you using Mint?  If so, what do you like about this software and how has it helped you achieve your financial goals?  As you probably know, it’s become the most popular personal finance software product and it’s completely free.

What do you think about these 5 ideas?

If you’ve got a guitar, flip cam, and creative people in the same room at Dave’s office, fun stuff like this can happen!  Luke, one of our graphic designers, wrote this song about debt and decided to perform it for some of the team one Friday afternoon.

Have you ever reasoned it’s okay to go into vacation related debt?  Maybe you decided to use a credit card to cover your shortfall.  It’s easy to justify doing so, especially when you’re with your family and want to have a good time.  This video is a good reminder those credit card bills always show up (they’re never late) and it’s never fun when you have to pay them off!